SPAIN: ACTIVE SUPPORT ON TURKEY/EU; WILL SEEK

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 002956 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/27/2016 TAGS: EUN PREL NATO SP SUBJECT: SPAIN: ACTIVE SUPPORT ON TURKEY/EU; WILL SEEK LEAST DAMAGING OPTION REF: STATE 189542 Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) DCM met with Alberto Navarro, Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union, on November 24 to discuss the future of Turkish accession into the EU. DCM asked Navarro if Spain would be an active supporter of Turkey at the December European Council and also asked what role France and Germany could be expected to play. He noted U.S. concern that Greece and Cyprus might move the debate to a point where either the EU would close the accession process or Turkey would have no choice but to quit the process. ¶2. (C) Navarro said that Spain is one of the strongest supporters of Turkish accession and will seek to minimize any damage to the process at the December European Council. He noted that Turkey is enjoying large economic growth and represents an excellent new market for European goods. Turkey is Spain's second largest non-EU market and a large buyer of Spanish-made high speed trains. On the military side, Navarro pointed out that Turkey has the third largest army in Europe. Finally, he cited Spanish-Turkish collaboration on the Alliance of Civilizations as evidence of the strong link between the two countries and a common commitment to peace and stability in the Middle East. ¶3. (C) On Turkish progress toward accession, Navarro told the DCM that Turkey has made progress in many of the required areas, including revision of the penal code, abolishment of the death penalty and other initiatives. He expressed concern that a European abandonment of Turkey would create a void which eastern nations - Iran, Russia, China - would be certain to fill. ¶4. (C) Navarro said that if there was no final agreement by December 6, Spain would do everything possible to "do the least harm" to the process. He mentioned three options - freezing the process until after Turkish elections, freezing commercial and political chapters while proceeding on technical chapters, or agreeing to open only two chapters a year for the immediate future. Spain noted that the UK and Spain would work together in this effort although their motivations are different. Navarro said Britain's support for Turkey was based on the longstanding British objective of weakening the EU by diluting it. ¶5. (C) Navarro stated his belief that France will publicly go along with the process but is in a very difficult position. He thought that Germany would support some sort of privileged status for Turkey but not membership. Concluding, Navarro told DCM that Spain would be a leading and constructive player in the internal EU debate. -------------- Visit Embassy Madrid's Classified Website; http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/madrid/ -------------- AGUIRRE